Prayers of the People for Sunday, March 19, 2023 by Rev. Katie Fuchs.

It’s amazing how well our brain can filter all the stimuli it receives from our senses, allowing us to focus on just a few things at a time.  For example, someone returning to work from a lunch break at a sidewalk café may be listening to a friend walking with them, watch for cars as they cross the street, feel a breeze as they come to the corner, smell food from the café they just visited, and taste the tea they had taken with them in a to-go cup while concentrating on the conversation with their friend – all at the same time! Of course, deciding where to focus our attention with all this stimulation can be a challenge. Sometimes we accidently filter the wrong things.

Another important sense we may need to remind ourselves of is that sense which perceives the movement of the Spirit around us. Failing to acknowledge or perceive the Spirit can leave us blind to important information that might help us in our life’s journey. Join us this Sunday as we celebrate the baptism and confirmation of several of our youth and reflect on how Jesus’s healing of a blind man can serve as a reminder of how we need Christ’s help with avoiding our spiritual blind spots. 

I think it’s safe to say that gratification is a common goal in life for all of us. Each one of us seek some form of gratification, but we do it in different ways: through work, entertainment, hobbies, or even simply resting. Sometimes it’s superficial and temporary; other times it affects us deeply for a lifetime. The search for gratification motivates our behavior and guides many of our decisions.

In this third Sunday of Lent, we will reflect on a discussion between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at a well. Jesus asked the woman for water to literally quench his thirst, and, in return, he offered to metaphorically quench her thirst. This unannounced switch between literal and metaphorical topics was confusing for her at first, almost comically, but she quickly caught on. Join us this Sunday as we delve deeply into this conversation and consider how we might also be filled through the grace of Christ.

Prayers of the People for Sunday, March 12, 2023 by Brandon Coz.

Have you ever been so troubled by a decision that you lose sleep turning the options over and over in your mind? Likewise, have you ever been presented with a decision to be made and were able to come to your decision right away?  In our Scripture readings this week, we take a look at Abram's response to God when he told him to leave his country, his kindred, and his father's house to go to a place that God would show him. And we also look at the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus about what is required to see and to enter the Kingdom of God. The underlying message in both stories is about the power of faith. The power of faith when it acts like a verb and propels us to get up and go, like Abram, out into the unknown. And the power of doubt to keep us stuck to the comfortable, the familiar, the things we think we know, like Nicodemus. Abram's physical journey was difficult and at times dangerous. But the real journey that God invited him to was a journey of faith, a deeply spiritual journey. During Abram's time people related to deity through country, kindred and family. The gods one worshiped tended to be of a specific place, clan, or ancestry.  By taking Abram away from these anchors of personal identity , he was challenged to fill the void with the One God.  God asked Abram to place his survival, his identity, his future and his security in the hands of God. By faith, Abram got up and went. Jesus likewise calls each of us to a journey of faith that goes beyond the surface of our lives, and welcomes in the Spirit to blow where it will in our lives. The story of Nicodemus can be a cautionary tale. The decision to join Jesus on that spiritual journey is one we each have to make. 

Prayers of the People for Sunday, March 5, 2023 by Allison Essinger.

Prayers of the People for Sunday. February 26, 2023 by Jim Essinger.

This week, we transition to the liturgical season of Lent. This has traditionally been a period of reflection – about the ways we live out our lives, our relationships with God and each other, and what Christ has made available to us through his crucifixion and resurrection. The season of Lent encourages us to listen to the call of the Spirit and discern how we can grow closer in those relationships.

This week, we will reflect on temptation. This is an issue all of humanity has had to deal with, including Christ. After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. Join us this Wednesday for our Ash Wednesday service which marks the beginning of Lent and for our Sunday service where we will reflect on our responses to the inevitable temptations that come our way.

Transfiguration Sunday, like Reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday, is about the identity of the one we follow. Jesus the Christ is revealed in glory on the mount of transfiguration. Like the disciples who were privileged to be with him in that moment, we often miss the significance or the opportunity to praise in our struggle to understand. This day is not about knowledge; it is about faith. It is a day for creeds or affirmations of faith. Let us rise to our feet and declare our allegiance to our Lord on this day.

Prayers of the People for February 19, 2023 by Terri Strome.